Win Win is the newest movie by Thomas McCarthy, the director of The Station Agent (which I really liked) and The Visitor (which I have yet to see but really should).
It is one of those movies I'm really bad at reviewing because it presents a lot of normal, believable characters in a situation you could almost imagine happening. I'm much better at reviewing movies with, like, spacemen or sword fights in them. I did like Win Win a great deal, but I have a hard time putting my thoughts on these movies into words. Note to self: work on that.
Paul Giamatti stars as Mike, a struggling lawyer who can't catch a break. His firm is on the brink of failure, he can't support his family, and the high school wrestling team he coaches can't win a match. All of this is driving him to anxiety attacks. When one of his clients, an old man in the beginning stages of dementia, needs a guardian, a solution to all of his problems seemingly lands right in his lap: He takes the guardianship for himself, and promptly drops the guy off in a rest home, where they can take care of him, while he takes the $1500 a month.
In comes Kyle, the old man's teenage grandson, who comes to town, mainly to get away from his mother. And guess what? He's a champion wrestler.
Things go good for a while, but they can't last forever. They get complicated, and Mike tries desperately to find his way out with his world intact. That's the gist of it.
The cast is excellent. They have great chemistry, and are a joy to watch act off of each other. Amy Ryan is Giamatti's wife, Jeffrey Tambor is his assistant coach. My personal favorite character was Bobby Cannavale as Mike's best friend Terry. Cannavale is genuine and funny, and it's surprising to me that he's not in more things. The kid that plays Kyle has never been in anything, and it's a pretty strong debut for him.
I'm going to end it here, so I don't get into the weird rambling part where I try to come up with stuff to say about the movie and don't actually wind up saying anything. I am aware of my deficiencies as a writer, dammit.
In conclusion, Win Win is pretty good. It's engaging from beginning to end, and very funny. I think I can consider myself a fan of Thomas McCarthy now. I look forward to whatever he directs next. B+
you saw way to many movies recently and decided to write about them, I've got a lot of catching up to do.
ReplyDeleteIt's something I've really been focusing on. I hadn't watched movies very much for the last two years, and the blog was my way of making sure I do it. At the rate I'm going, I'm going to have no problem reaching my goal of 100 movies before the end of the year.
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